Why Carl Crawford will soon be a Yankee (if we want him)

Tampa hosted Boston last week in the heat of a pennant race.

Only 19,000 people came -- barely a Foghat reunion concert.

They're blaming Tropicana Field.

They're blaming the original owners.

And, of course, they're blaming us.

The Yankee factor has hurt, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster said. George Steinbrenner, the owner, makes Tampa his home. Its star player, Derek Jeter, does, too. A radio station, WHBO-AM 1040 (ESPN), carries Yankees games.

"This franchise is still a baby," Foster said. "And it has to compete with a team that has a stronghold in Tampa. I was driving in Tampa the other day and I saw two buildings with Steinbrenner's name on them. That can't help the Rays."

Yeah, we've heard it before. The reason Texas is bankrupt? The Yankees stole ARod. The cause of Cleveland's problems? We signed C.C.

 

Every MLB city and owner has one central problem, and it's the Yankees, because we actually care about winning, rather than cutting costs by chistling players out their money.

 

Donald Fehr, director of the Players Union, once said: "You go through The Sporting News of the last 100 years, and you will find two things are always true. You never have enough pitchers, and nobody ever made money."

 

I would submit a third rule: It's always the Yankees' fault.